On many farms production costs 

 undoubtedly ran higher than 50 cents a 

 case this year. With berries bringing 

 $1.50 to $2.00 a case, a few No. Is sell- 

 ing for $2.25, the average grower this 

 year barely broke even. At $2.50 to 

 $3.00 a case he could have made a fair 

 profit but low buying power in the 

 cities and plenty of berries dictated a 

 lower price. 



The cost of trucking berries from 

 Paris to Chicago is 20 cents a case. If 

 the commission man on the South 

 Water St. market can get 25 cents a 

 case over the FOB Chicago price, he 

 is doing pretty well. Sometimes he 

 loses, too. It's a catch as catch can busi- 

 ness. Strawberries went to the house- 

 wife this year through chain and other 

 stores from 10 cents to 121/^ cents a 

 quart. 



Edgar county strawberries were prac- 

 tically all picked and sold by June 7. 

 The heavy marketing season lasted less 

 than two weeks. 



When the berries start coming in at 

 the loading shed of the Edgar County 

 Growers Association in Paris, Harry 

 Day, manager, Logan Culp, and Ace 

 Egelston of the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange are there ready to handle 

 them. So are the buyers. The Federal- 

 state graders and inspectors are there 

 too, panning each grower's lot and 

 stamping the grade on the case. There's 



U. S. NO. I's 

 "The ILLINI Brand label is a sure sign of 

 quality" 



a job for everyone and long hours are 

 the rule. 



The grades vary from U. S. No. 1, 

 down. Second grade berries are called 

 Illinois Utilities, third grade are 

 stamped "Unclassified." Sometimes the 

 top two grades are subdivided into A's 

 and B's. 



The Illinois Exchange pays the gov- 

 ernment graders, all telephone and tel- 

 egraph expense, furnishes labels and, 

 of course, pays the salaries and wages 

 of its employees. A half dozen or more 



GOVEBNMENT GRAOEE 



"they stamp the grade on the case" 



young men are hired to unload the 

 cases delivered to the shed from the 

 farm. They also help load the buyer's 

 trucks bound for the cities. 



Exchange officials keep in close touch 

 with buyers from Chicago, St. Louis, 

 Detroit, Peoria, Decatur, Danville, Du- 

 buque, Cedar Rapids, Rockford, Janes- 

 ville, Grand Rapids, Flint, and other 

 Michigan and Wisconsin points. The 

 movement of Edgar county strawberries 

 is nearly always north but occasionally 

 St. Louis develops into a good market 

 if local berries are cleaned up. 



All berries are loaded out of Paris 

 and Vermilion on trucks. At Paducah, 

 Ky. and from Louisiana and Tennessee 

 points the movement is mostly by re- 

 frigerated cars. Trucks have improved 

 and speeded up the service of market- 

 ing perishables to nearby markets. 



The Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange 

 handled 10,000 to 12,000 cases of 

 strawberries out of Humboldt, Tenn. 

 This year, about 10,000 cases at Anna 

 and 16,000 from Paris. 



One of the larger buyers at Paris was 

 Geo. F. Mielke who operates a fleet 

 of 15 to 20 trucks out of Milwaukee. 

 His business is mostly fruits. He oper- 

 ates all the way from Southern Florida 

 north, and like the berry pickers, he fol- 

 lows the harvest. 



Last year Mielke handled $1,500,000 

 worth of perishables. He is known as 

 a high grade, honest operator always 

 ready to pay cash for what he gets. 

 Mielke puts 75 per cent of his pur- 

 chases into Milwaukee, the balance in- 

 to other nearby cities. 



Merkel Brothers on the South Water 

 St. Market, Chicago, are big operators. 

 Karl who assists the Illinois Exchance 

 in handling the Illinois peach and ap- 

 ple crops is an expert salesman. He 

 was at Paris as fieldman for his firm. 

 He handled 100 carloads of straw- 



berries (750 cases per car) out of Ham- 

 mond, La., this spring. That point 

 shipped around 3,000 carloads. The 

 Louisiana berries are sold at night by 

 auction. Marketing is carefully con- 

 trolled. Every buyer can determine 

 just where the berries are going be- 

 cause all move out by rail. 



The federal law which regulates 

 handlers of perishable farm products 

 in interstate commerce protects both 

 buyer and seller against dishonest and 

 sharp practice. Most brokers in the 

 trade are honest. A few are shysters. 

 They are all listed in the Red Book as 

 to their integrity and financial standing. 

 A four star rating is tops. One and 

 two-star ratings serve to warn the seller 

 to get the buyer's bid in writing. Then 

 if he welches, the government steps in. 

 They don't trifle with Uncle Sam. He 

 can put a dishonest buyer or seller out 

 of business in short order. 



The Fruit Growers Exchange con- 

 ducts a daily pool at Paris, by grade. 

 Each grower on any given day gets the 



LOGAN COLP 



"there's a job for everyone and long hours 

 are the rule" 



same price for the same grade. Each 

 grower is given a number which ap- 

 pears on every case delivered. This 

 system prevents the trade from play- 

 ing favorites, gives every grower an 

 equal chance for a sale. 



The loading platform is a busy place. 

 Buyers, sellers, graders and inspectors 

 are there in numbers, each with a little 

 shiny, claw hammer removing the tops 

 of crates to look at the berries. An 

 experienced buyer can look at a crate 

 of berries, tell you the variety, the 

 grade, how long they will keep, and 

 what they will look like next morning 

 on the market. Harry Day and his as- 

 sociates are old hands at the business, 

 too, and know what the fruit is worth 

 from day to day, and hour to hour. 



Strawberries may fluctuate from 50 



(Continued on page 22) 



AUGUST. 1939 



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